Moving on

Cherryfudge

DH was WFH today and will be tomorrow as well so I have been busying myself rather than take my laptop into another room. In the morning I went to sort out my library card (it expired a few months ago and no one noticed: it even let me book something out yesterday, but DH didn't realise and put the book back on the shelf, hence my trying to log in to see whether it was still out in my name and discovering I'm out of date. However, the nice assistant has revived my account and I get to keep the jolly library card with a picture of a duck... DGD2 was allowed to hold it as she is very keen on ducks).

So anyway, I'm legit again and to celebrate, have borrowed a book on visible mending.

After that I bought rather a lot of shopping as I wanted to try the Moroccan-style stuffed aubergine as recommended by SA. While the oven was on, I also tried a lentil loaf recipe: it has feta and spring onions and is very nice, and must be super-high in protein. I think this may be the recipe though it's no longer allowing me to read without either paying or getting showered with cookies.

Lunch was quite hurried as SH only gets half an hour and I was meeting someone for coffee. We went to a little cafe that I used to frequent under previous owners, and had a lovely afternoon, though at some point someone immediately behind me seemed to be having a fight with their poor dog. My friend could probably see what was going on but her face gave nothing away, but it was so loud I had to focus really hard to follow what she was saying. That aside, it was a very positive experience and has encouraged me to meet the rest of the team similarly, to get to know them a bit better.

I had three hours at work this evening: a run I've not done in so long that I assumed it was being cleaned in the mornings. Now cleaner's cupboards are not the best-designed places, and this one had a misaligned dripping tap so the floor was slippery. I've reported it and a handyman showed up but all he did was tighten it by hand and agree with me that the alignment is a problem. Why he couldn't just replace a washer, I don't know. Perhaps because he doesn't have to put up with it? It wouldn't be so frustrating it it weren't that I reported it some time last year and clearly zilch has been done. Sigh. Or more aptly, grr.

While I was at work, the dishwasher repair person came back and explained it all to DH, and I think we re agreed that the seal is leaking, but now the machine won't pump out and the waste pipe is leaking - so at least we have a very clean patch of kitchen floor, but are still washing dishes by hand.

Credit card paid off - the missing holiday payment had eventually gone through then been refunded as we cancelled that accommodation. The refund for the computer cleaning program has also arrived, so the damage was a lot less than it could have been.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £18.16
Household £15.50
Entertaining £7.50

P.S. DH has reattached the water barrel, so I no longer need to direct the rain water pipe into it manually!

Cherryfudge

The mystery dishwasher ailment seems to have spread to the washing machine - now neither will pump out! I think we are going to get a plumber, but meanwhile there's a load in the washer that I can't get out without yet another flood. The Vax is proving a huge help as it will drink up spills very efficiently, but also I have no mangle so this load may take a long time to dry.

DH is working so I'd better got on with it, then I intend to got and do more of the church cleaning that I didn't get done last week. At least with it being holidays, many rooms won't have been used and I know better this time than to intervene around the decorating.

This morning I washed my hair and did some skin care - I know I always feel better for that and I'm hoping I've washed away the cause of an itchiness that I thought meant I was coming down with something as it's often associated with colds for me. However, no cold manifested itself and I'm not complaining.

Watty1

Do you have someone near by who will let you spin it?  Or even a laundrette?  The place I rented had a couple of machines in a shower house for the campsite so I used those needed for spinning!

rtandon27

Appliance revolts are terrible - it's as if they talk to each other!

Cherryfudge

More best-laid plans going astray: I used the Vax to help drain the washer and wrung the clothes out by hand. Of course, that's nothing like as efficient as a machine spin but it probably halves the drying time. I also discovered I'd missed a tissue, so there are white bits galore.

Just as I finished pegging them out - with the exception of DH's dressing gown which is far too big for my hands to have much effect and even between us it took some wringing - the rain started. Initial hopes of a light shower proved unfounded so everything came in again and is now on an airer over the bath with the window open. Meanwhile, the rain has stopped and I'm wondering whether to leave the church cleaning till tomorrow...

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

Do you have someone near by who will let you spin it?  Or even a laundrette?  The place I rented had a couple of machines in a shower house for the campsite so I used those needed for spinning!

Dh is going to try to put the plumbing back as it was before he put a new part in yesterday! If that doesn't work, we will probably ask if our son can put it through their machine. No laundrette in town, sadly. It must be about 30 years since it closed!

rtandon27 said:

Appliance revolts are terrible - it's as if they talk to each other!

Absolutely. I need to keep the Vax out of earshot.

Laura_Elsewhere

I wonder if your recent itchiness might be to do with your washing machine starting to develop problems and maybe not rinsing away all of the detergent?

it must be the season for them to down tools and refuse to work- ours turned stroppy on Friday, draining but not spinning so we too had to empty it by hand with water everywhere and then wring everything by hand… thankfully Mr E is the sort who could then crawl around opening bits up and determining which bits had given up, ordered them online and repaired it by Wednesday morning! He’s a useful chap, that one…

I hope yours is all sorted soon!

Cherryfudge

Nothing would surprise me, @Laura_Elsewhere! Sorry to hear your washer has gone the same way. I discovered what heavy work it is to try to wring things out by hand.

There are three areas that get itchy: scalp, back and shins, so some of the triggers must be different, but I'm already avoiding most shampoos because I know that's causing problems. Baby shampoo or Simple seem okay though.

In the end it turned warm and sunny again so the washing went back on the line and I went to water the church plants as I'd offered to help out. I meant to do some cleaning too but there wasn't much time so it was basically emptying bins (and fewer than normal). By the time I got home DH had finished work and was prepping tea (tuna pasta). The washing on the line was almost dry! Only DH's dressing gown has had to stay out.

After we'd eaten, we pulled the dishwasher out again, having found that the washing machine code meant it couldn't drain. Then we found that the new junction DH had put in yesterday actually came with stoppers! I suppose that's in case you need two water outlets some days and at other times, just one. Well, no wonder no water was draining!

When these were removed - they looked like a little collar of contrasting plastic, which could have been to reinforce the end of the pipe - the washing machine worked as well as ever! Phew. We haven't tried the dishwasher yet, but the problems there developed before we tried to improve it, so it's a bit more unknown territory.

I was much more tired than I can account for, unless it's because I put on some close-fitting slippers, having soaked a usual pair while the floor was flooded. My feet can't cope with pressure and I think my leg muscles were protesting, and if your feet are tired, I think the rest of the body assumes it is, too. Talking of which, I've missed a couple of runs. Running doesn't tire me like this, it's an entirely different feeling, but I'm tired now and I need to get to bed.

Watty1

Hope you had a good nights sleep and this morning all the machines decide to play nicely.

Cherryfudge

I had a really good sleep thanks @Watty1: I can't say I feel fully awake yet, but that's often the way with a catchup sleep, isn't it?

Washing machine is definitely working, dishwasher is trying hard but isn't drawing in water and the waste pipe is leaking... and we already know the door seal needs to be replaced.

DH is going to speak to the chaps in the shop who have looked at it twice so far and said they wouldn't do any more till the plumbing is fixed, which it now undoubtedly is, as the washer is running off the same system. They Don't Do Plumbing, which is fair enough as plumbing seems born to be temperamental.

DH is also taking a couple of pairs of my shoes for recycling, as a little research showed me that they do proper recycling, not just incineration. I still have too many pairs of shoes so now I'm going to contact my sister. If she's the same size as I am, she can have first refusal, especially on winter-weight foot wear, as she's moving from the equator to Scotland this autumn and probably didn't need much in the way of sheepskin while out there.

I need to find a new pair of 'wear-anywhere' trainers as the current pair are wearing down, and will be relegated to the cleaning job once they are replaced.

DH has the day off but he's going over to Auntie's to stay for a couple of days, as of this afternoon.

My jobs for today:

• work out how to use the Boots app - never seen anything so complicated, or is that just me?
• offer to help with teas and coffees on Sunday as they had no one last time I heard. Hoping they have someone now, but I can still help and it's always fun when you actually get down to the job and stop fretting about how to fill the coffee flasks.
• Clean fridge.
• Ironing.
• Change bedding (got a tear in the sheet so...)
• order a replacement sheet (not cheap because we like the lovely ones)
• do another half hour of gardening.

I am sure I will add more as the day goes on. No paid work tonight and only needed twice next week, so will make the most of that and try to get ahead on goodness-knows-what.